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An out-of-state advocacy group filed a federal antidiscrimination complaint challenging Chicago Public Schools’ Black Student Success Plan the day after the district released its long-awaited blueprint.
Parents Defending Education, which has challenged race-based initiatives and the teaching of topics involving race and gender in schools, submitted a complaint to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, asking it to block the five-year plan’s implementation. It invoked the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning the use of race as a factor in college admissions, and a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights late last week warning school districts to halt any race-based initiatives or risk losing federal funding.
District leaders in Chicago said they would review and respond to the complaint. A Chalkbeat reporter was turned away from a kickoff event celebrating the new plan Friday afternoon by an official who said it was not open to the public. CPS officials have previously said the plan is essential in addressing longstanding disparities in achievement, graduation, discipline, and other outcomes for its Black students.
The plan sets goals to increase the number of Black teachers, reduce Black student suspensions, provide more professional development for all educators, and ensure that Black history is taught in more classrooms, among other steps.
The plan’s release collides with an aggressive push by the Trump administration to root out diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The administration argued in its Dear Colleague letter that even using income and other non-racial factors in education initiatives runs afoul of the Supreme Court’s admissions decision — a claim some legal experts deem a major stretch.
In a letter to families Friday, district CEO Pedro Martinez did not specifically refer to the Black student plan but said that CPS will stay the course amid Trump administration changes and threats of withholding funding, including when it comes to teaching students’ cultures and history in the classroom.
“We will stay true to our values and our mission — to provide all students with a rigorous, joyful, and equitable daily learning experience that affirms and celebrates their identities,” Martinez wrote.
Last year, Parents Defending Education filed a similar complaint against a Los Angeles Unified School District program to improve outcomes for its Black students. At the Biden administration’s urging following the complaint, that district overhauled its program to open it to all students at schools that qualified for it. That’s a development the group also touted in its complaint against CPS.
“Parents Defending Education hopes that this complaint will spur quick action to remedy unlawful practices and end discrimination on the basis of race, and political indoctrination in America’s schools,” a spokeswoman for the group said in a statement to Chalkbeat Friday.
In its complaint, the group argued that CPS students of other races also struggle academically, pointing to a district chart about results on a reading assessment in the early grades that showed a slightly smaller portion of Latino students read on grade level compared with Black students. Overall, though, Black students in CPS have faced some of the district’s widest disparities in academic outcomes — a longstanding issue that sparked a CPS equity push under former CEO Janice Jackson that laid the groundwork for the new plan.
The group also noted a reference to “present-day harm” to Black students in plan materials, urging the Office of Civil Rights to not only investigate the initiative but to also audit the district to find out if it is violating the rights of any students.
CPS has noted that a state law passed last spring requires the board to have a Black student achievement committee, suggesting that it is complying with Illinois mandates in crafting the plan.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
